1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a purchase checkout station to be utilized with a portable purchase monitoring device so as to enable consumers at a self-service store to shop independently and quickly, and easily checkout their purchase items themselves while assuring that maximum security is maintained in the store.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional checkout stations in most self-service stores involve the individual scanning of each product brought to the checkout station by the consumer. Specifically, a consumer will gather all items they desire to purchase, place them on the checkout station on a conveyor or like movable surface where they are presented to a store employee who takes each item selected by the consumer and scans its bar code. While these procedures are substantially improved over what was previously necessitated, namely the numeric entry of the price of each item by the store employee, this conventional type of checkout can still be quite time-consuming. Further, because it is the bar code of each item which designates the price, it can often be difficult for a consumer to identify the specific price of an item which no longer needs to be marked by a separate price indicator sticker. Accordingly, and due to the advent of inventions which enable consumers to independently scan items to be purchased, there is a need for an improved checkout station which can utilize the increased efficiency of allowing a consumer to scan items themselves, while ensuring efficient checkout and store security.
The checkout station of the present invention is adapted specifically to allow for the increased consumer independence, and to eliminate limits on checkout volume which relate to the need for having a store employee at each checkout station, and thus overcomes many of the problems associated with the related art.